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Monday, February 02, 2009
Legislative Benefits - "Revolving door spins out of control"
From an editorial today in the Indianapolis Star:
Indiana has not experienced a state capitol scandal to rival the Rod Blagojevich affair in many years, but there's little reason for Hoosiers to be smug about their neighboring state's troubles.On the same day the Illinois governor was thrown out of office, a prominent Indianapolis elected official announced he was stepping down from his post to take a job as a lobbyist. A few days earlier, a newspaper reported that a recently retired state senator was back with his old colleagues -- working as a lobbyist.
We can take their word that Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer and former Sen. Robert Meeks are simply fighting for good government in a new arena. We can also ask what it is about Drummer, and Meeks, and former state Rep. Michael Ripley, and former state Sen. Larry Borst, and the dozens of others who have left the General Assembly or other elected office for the lobbying business, that makes them so employable.
Try connections, influence and particular interests, all of which matter to the industries and organizations trying to steer legislation to their benefit, with the public's benefit being incidental. Before he retired because of illness, for example, Meeks was the Senate's top budget negotiator. As the legislature deliberates on a tight state budget and a federal windfall, he will weigh in for special interests.
The dangers inherent in such coziness have prompted most states, plus the federal government, plus the Daniels administration in the executive branch here, to impose strict rules on lobbying. Indiana's legislature has not kept pace, although reformers have plugged away every year. This year, once again, the vital signs for corrective bills are weak.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 2, 2009 08:01 AM
Posted to Legislative Benefits